Sub-jr Men National C’ship: Odisha beat Tamil Nadu 9-1

New Delhi: Hockey Odisha outclassed Tamil Nadu 9-1 in the 4th Sub – Junior Men National Championship (Division A) played at Ranchi, Jharkhand on Wednesday.

In a Pool A match, played between Hockey Odisha and Tamil Nadu, the former won over the latter and showcased an amazing performance with a striking goal margin of 9-1. The winning team played a very defensive game and left the opponent goalless in the first half.

While it was Ashwin Kujur scored the opening goal for Hockey Odisha in just the 6th minute of the game, utilizing the penalty corner, Minil Toppo notched team’s second goal in 10th minute. Adding further goals to the team’s account, a field goal came through the stick of Amit Chirmako in the 16th minute. Without failing to put in efforts, Sudhir Kujur stroked in two goals back to back in 20th and 34th minute taking the lead to 5-0 on the board.

The second half of the game started on a positive note for Tamil Nadu as it did not lose its hope and R. Manikandan penetrated a field goal in the 40th minute. While, Tamil Nadu managed to bag only a single goal to its account, Hockey Odisha continued to its winning streak and scored for back to back goals in 47th, 54th, 56th and 62nd minute which were contributed by Amit Chirmako, Biku Ekka, Nitin Mukesh Tigga and Suraj Minz, respectively declaring a remarkable win.

In another match of Pool A, Chhattisgarh defeated Kerala by 7-1. In the first half both the team defended well against each other and played well. No gaols were scored till the 17th minute of the match. In the 18th minute, Prafool Kullu opened the account for Chhattisgarh and scored a goal to take a lead of 1-0. Kerala defended pretty well after that but before the end of the halftime, in the 32nd minute of the match Chonhas Dung Dung of Chhattisgarh successfully converted a penalty corner into a goal taking the lead to 2-0 till the half time.

In the second half, Kerala bounced back in the very first minute and Sreejith B scored the 1st goal for the team through field goal and narrowed the lead to 2-1. Chhattisgarh’s captain Deepak John and Sumeet Jha successfully converted two penalty corners in the 47th minute and 50th minute of the match. In the 53th minute Prafool Kullu scored another goal for Chhattisgarh through field goal taking the lead to 5-1. Samresh Jojo scored another two goals for Chhattisgarh in the 65th and 67th minute of the match and won the match by 7-1 on the scoreboard.

In the Pool B match between Hockey Bhopal and Andhra Pradesh it was an evenly contested match between both the teams yielding a draw and ending the session with 5-5 on the scorecard. While Hockey Bhopal had the edge in the first half with them scoring in the very 6th minute into the match when Faizan Uddin converted hit a brilliant field goal. The very next minute it was Mohd Shariq who scored another field goal taking his team to a 2-0 lead.

The team did not stop here and in the 13th minute Faizan Uddin was again in action and took his team and the scorecard to 3-0. Realizing that they are losing control over the match, Andhra Pradesh immediately increased its attack ove Bhopal and finally in the 30th minute the team managed to convert the penalty corner opportunity that they got and which came from the stick of Harish Kumar Pamisetty. Going into the break Bhopal was still leading with 3-1.

Coming into the second Hockey Bhopal was high in confidence with its lead while Andhra Pradesh was a determined side to come back into the match. Andhra Pradesh immediately scored in the 39th minute when captain Kamal R. Prabhakar scored through a field goal. the captain did not stop here and he scored again in the 44th minute taking his team to the much required equalizer. From here it was anyone’s game. While Andhra Pradesh managed to take control over the match, Hockey Bhopal in the other realized that it lost a very good opportunity of taking a easy win. Hockey Bhopal in the 49th minute scored its 4th goal and a lead in the game again.

Realizing that they had very less time in its hand Hockey Bhopal went on the attack again and in the 54th minute Mohd. Rashid scored the 5th goal for the team and taking the team to a very comfortable position. But Andhra Pradesh had other plans and the very next minute Sandeep Kumar scored and taking the score to 5-4. While Bhopal was determined to stop any further goals Andhra Pradesh was hell bent on not losing the match and they scored the equalizer in the 61st minute through Sandeep Kumar’s stick yet again. While the last 9 minutes both the teams tried their level best to take the lead and win the match but unfortunately the match ended in a draw for both the teams.

Results of the day:


Pool A: Hockey Odisha 9 Ashwin Kujur (6 min), Minil Toppo (10 min), Amit Chirmako (16 and 47 min), Sudhir Kujur (20 and 34 min), Biju Ekka (54 min), Nitin Mukesh Tigga (56 min) and Suraj Minz (62 min) Vs Tamil Nadu 1 R. Manikandan (40 min)

Pool A- Chhattisgarh 7 Prafool Kullu (18 min, 53 min), Chonhas Dung Dung (32 min), Deepak John (47 min), Sumeet Jha (50 min), Samresh Jojo (65 min and 67 min) vs Kerala 1 Sreejith B (36 min)

Pool B – Hockey Bhopal 5 Faizan Uddin (6 min, 13 min), Mohd Shariq (7 min), Mohd Faheem (49 min), Mohd Rashid (54 min) vs Andhra Pradesh 5 Harish Kumar Pamisetty (30 min), Kamal R. Prabhakar (39 min, 44 min), Sandeep Kumar (55 min, 61 min)

Pool B- Jharkhand 3 Noyel Topno (33 min), Buddu Tuti (36 min), Kumu Kullu (56 min) Vs Karnataka 2 Ajay S (4 min), Shashi Dung (60 min).